Art Nouveau Sterling Silver Heart Necklace, William Morris "The Strawberry Thieves"

Art Nouveau Sterling Silver Heart Necklaces

Strawberry Thief by William Morris.

Show your affection with an exquisite custom heart necklace, made from real sterling silver and stamped with the 925 marking on the back of the pendant. Designed as a keepsake to be cherished for a lifetime, your heart necklace can be a symbol of your creativity and love. Your beautiful necklace comes in a heart-shaped, rust-proof and fully recyclable tin box with soft foam padding for a gorgeous presentation as well as safe storage. Made from sterling silver, we have not cut corners on quality, and our direct printing methods mean that you do not lose the special sheen that silver is famous for.

Unfortunately, a jeweller is a dying profession. More and more companies are turning to cheaper machine-made alternatives, cutting both cost and quality. With our custom heart necklaces, you receive the care and attention that only handmade jewellery can attain. When you design your own heart necklace, they are stamped with the 925 mark of quality on the back of the pendant. The chain is attached to the pendant with a jump ring, and the custom print will have a slightly brushed finish.

A wonderful Art Nouveau design around the textile by William Morris, the master of textiles in the 19th and early 20th Century. The Strawberry Thieves is one of William Morris's most popular repeating designs for textiles. It takes as its subject the thrushes that Morris found stealing fruit in his kitchen garden of his countryside home, Kelmscott Manor, in Oxfordshire.

To print the pattern Morris used the painstaking indigo-discharge method he admired above all forms of printing. He first attempted to print by this method in 1875 but it was not until 1881, when he moved into his factory at Merton Abbey, near Wimbledon, that he succeeded.

In May 1883 Morris wrote to his daughter, "I was a great deal at Merton last week ... anxiously superintending the first printing of the Strawberry thief, which I think we shall manage this time." Pleased with this success, he registered the design with the Patents Office. This pattern was the first design using the technique in which red (in this case alizarin dye) and yellow (weld) were added to the basic blue and white ground.